John Wattis Visiting professor, Human and health sciences, University of Huddersfield

John Stephenson Senior lecturer, Human and health sciences, University of Huddersfield

Aim The aim of this research was to identify healthcare teaching staff’s understanding of spirituality, how their understanding may shape teaching practice and how this may contribute to the documented issues around incorporating spirituality into patient assessment and care.

Findings Several perceptions and practices were identified that led to a better understanding of the obstacles to teaching in this area. Suggestions were made about how to shape teaching spirituality to improve patients’ experience and ensure spirituality is integrated more fully into assessment and care.

Conclusion This study brought a better understanding of obstacles to integrating spirituality into teaching for healthcare lecturers and offered some ideas on how to best address these obstacles.